In today’s society, it’s easier to send a text message or a snap chat then it is for students to  communicate verbally. But the truth is everyone uses public speaking at some point in their lives, but whether someone is good at is another matter. Theater and public speaking teacher Mrs. Cori Stallard believes certain things make a good public speaker.

“Being able to captivate your audience [is a good public speaking trait]. So having a connection, whether it be a creative way to tell your story or having the physical aspects of being a public speaker with eye contact and just presence,” Mrs. Stallard said.

There are countless benefits of having good public speaking skills. Some of these things are a boost in confidence, an increase in personal development, and it helps with critical thinking, along with many other things. To English teacher and speech and debate coach Sheri Baize public speaking should be very important to everyone because everyone uses it.

“I feel like it’s the most used and you don’t even think about it, you use it in everyday conversations, interactions with parents, and classmates. And sometimes you need different rhetorical devices or different ways that you want to deliver a certain message to people and be able to get it across effectively,” Mrs. Baize said.

One student, junior Reed Easterling, stated that it affects him in school and out of school.

“Right now I’m in speech and debate where I do congressional debate as well as public forum debate, and both of those require public speaking on the spot. I also do Youth and Government, [in] which [speeches are made] on the fly during our debates…In essentially every single job there is, you’re going to have the ability to speak to other people, whether it be in a professional or social setting your going to need to be able to speak convincingly and persuasively,” Easterling said.

While public speaking is a fear to many this class, is a nice step in the right direction. Because this class slowly eases students into the wide world of public speaking it’s a great step for beginners. The class consists of students giving one simple speech. This speech is usually about a personal experience where the student tells a story for two minutes. As the semester continues the length and time of the speeches will also continue. And by the end of the semester, the students will be presenting a six-minute persuasive speech in front of the class. Mrs. Stallard’s main goal for her students enrolled in this class is that by the end of the semester, students will have gained more confidence in their speaking skills so they can be ready for the real world and the communication that is required with it.

“You use public speaking every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a boardroom or a conference meeting, or you’re in marketing. It doesn’t really matter the profession you just really need to know those strong speaking skills,” Mrs. Stallard said.